Methodology
How these recipes are made.
Grams & Greens publishes 5–10 new vegan and vegetarian recipes every morning at 6, each with nutrition calculated from USDA data rather than estimated. There are 4 recipes on the site so far. Here's exactly how they're produced — including what we don't do.
1. Planning the day
A planning model picks the day's dishes using produce that's in season, upcoming holidays, and the ingredients and dishes used in the last 14 days, so the site doesn't repeat itself. About a third of each day is variations of dishes already on the site. A variation has to change flavor, texture or nutrition along a stated axis — swapping one berry for another is a swap idea on the parent recipe, not a new recipe.
2. Writing
Recipes are drafted by Claude (with Gemini as a fallback) using everyday ingredients, realistic timings and explicit doneness cues. Ingredients must come from our pantry of about 180 known foods, which is what makes the nutrition calculation possible. Where a published recipe elsewhere inspired the idea, it's credited on the page; text and ingredient lists are never copied.
3. Independent review
Every recipe is then reviewed by a different model from the one that wrote it. The reviewer checks ratios and timings, food safety (undercooked beans, raw flour, unsafe holding temperatures), whether the vegan or vegetarian label is truthful, whether any claim in the text contradicts the calculated nutrition, and whether the dish is genuinely distinct from its siblings. It scores each recipe out of 10. Anything below 7, or with a safety or diet flag, isheld back for a human to review instead of being published.
4. Nutrition you can check
Nutrition is not written by a model. Each ingredient is converted to grams using USDA portion weights, matched to itsUSDA FoodData Central entry, summed, and divided by servings. Every recipe page links the source for each ingredient. Optional ingredients and garnishes aren't counted. Where an ingredient has no data, the page says so and the nutrient badges are withheld.
What the badges mean
- Vegan
- No animal products at all, including dairy, eggs and honey.
- Vegetarian
- No meat or fish, but may contain dairy, eggs or honey.
- High Protein
- At least 15 g of protein per serving.
- High Fiber
- At least 6 g of fiber per serving.
- Iron-Rich / Calcium-Rich
- At least 20% of the FDA Daily Value per serving (3.6 mg iron, 260 mg calcium).
- Under 400 kcal
- Fewer than 400 calories per serving.
- Low Sugar
- 5 g of sugar or less per serving.
- Quick
- 20 minutes or less of hands-on time. Soaking and chilling don't count.
- Gluten-Free / Nut-Free
- Based on ingredients only. Oats count as containing gluten unless certified. Check labels if you're cooking for an allergy.
What we don't do
- We don't kitchen-test recipes. They're reviewed for safety and plausibility by a second model, not cooked by a person before publishing.
- The photos aren't real. Every recipe image is AI-generated and labelled as such. It shows the intended dish, not a photograph of a cooked plate.
- We don't hide the AI. Every recipe page shows when it was published and links back here.
Questions
- Who writes the recipes on Grams & Greens?
- Recipes are drafted by AI (Claude, with Gemini as a fallback), then reviewed by a separate AI model for food safety, realistic ratios and timings, correct diet labelling and whether the dish is genuinely different from our existing recipes. Recipes that fail review are held back for a person to check rather than published.
- Where does the nutrition data come from?
- Every ingredient is converted to grams and matched to its entry in USDA FoodData Central (the SR Legacy dataset). Each recipe page links the exact source for every ingredient. Ingredients not in the USDA database are looked up from manufacturer labels and checked against their macros before being accepted.
- What does the High Protein badge mean?
- At least 15 g of protein per serving. High Fiber means at least 6 g of fiber per serving. Iron-Rich and Calcium-Rich mean at least 20% of the FDA Daily Value per serving.
- Are the recipes tested by a human cook?
- No. Recipes are checked by an independent AI review for safety and plausibility, but they are not kitchen-tested before publishing. Use your judgement, especially on timings, which vary by pan, oven and stove.
- Are the photos real?
- No. Recipe photos are AI-generated illustrations of the finished dish, labelled as such on every recipe page. They show the intended result, not a photograph of a cooked plate.
- How often are new recipes published?
- Five to ten new recipes every morning at 6, including variations of dishes already on the site.
Nutrition figures are estimates and vary with brands, sizes and how much you actually put in the pan. If you're cooking for a medical diet or an allergy, check the labels on the products you use.